


Making the Lion Roar

by SaibraRutherford (ScottishVix)



Series: Once We Were [6]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Cute Kids, Drabble, Fluff, Gen, Never waken a sleeping lion, how do you make a lion roar
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-02
Updated: 2016-10-02
Packaged: 2018-08-19 04:24:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 995
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8189845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScottishVix/pseuds/SaibraRutherford
Summary: Cullen gets a rude awakening





	

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by the sentence in my textbook: “Their shaping procedures have been honed over generations and passed down through families… this is the way you train a lion to roar (tweak a few hairs out of its mane, if you want to know).” I just couldn’t get rid of the idea of Cullen’s reaction to someone plucking some of hair out of his head unexpectedly. This is the result.
> 
> I was also inspired by thesecondsealwrites Kissing Day Festival on Tumblr.
> 
> Please don't hate me!

Cullen knew he should get up. The large windows in the room he now shared with Saibra were even better at letting the light in than the hole in his old roof had been and dawn was fast approaching. But, for a morning when Saibra was away from Skyhold, he was unusually reluctant to get out of bed. 

His eyes cracked open when he heard the sound of the latch being lifted. There was a quiet giggle and a louder “Shh!” He relaxed back into the bed and closed his eyes again. He had no idea what the girls were up to, and contemplated whether Vastra knew her daughters were up and about this early, but they couldn’t cause too much trouble. Vaguely, he wondered if Marie was simply trying to prove to her little sister that he did, in fact, sleep.

Affecting sleep, Cullen listened intently as two small pairs of bare feet tried their best to creep silently up the stairs and across the stone floor. Kitty couldn’t help giggling, leading Marie to huff in a way that sounded suspiciously like her Aunt Saibra when he made a suggestion she didn’t like. It took all his years of Templar training to keep from smiling and giving away that he was already awake.

“Uncle Cully’s still sleepin’,” Kitty whispered at last. Cullen guessed the toddler was standing next to the bed, somewhere by his knees.

“He’ll never know,” Marie promised her sister gently from somewhere near his head. He felt small fingers lightly run through his hair. “Not unless Auntie Sai tells him later.” Cullen was considering whether he should feign waking up when little fingers grasped a lock of hair above his ear and jerked hard.

He bolted upright with a loud roar, more of shock than pain. _Maker’s breath, that hurt!_ Both girls fell back sharply, Marie tripping over her feet. He opened his eyes just in time to see Kitty’s face crumple as she burst into tears. Instinct took over and he jumped out of bed and pulled the tiny girl into his arms, rocking and shushing her. Glancing up he saw Marie fighting her own wobbling lip and watery eyes, trying to be the brave big sister. Several curly blonde hairs were clutched in her small fist.

“What was that for, Marie?”

She had no time to answer before the door slammed open and Vastra appeared at the top of the stair, face flushed with anger. “What in the Maker’s name have you done?” Cullen was about to protest that he hadn’t meant to make the girls cry, but Vastra wasn’t paying any attention to him. “Do you have any idea how worried I was when you weren’t in your beds? And then I hear your Uncle Cullen yelling fit to wake the keep. What did you do to him?”

Marie’s lip was quivering wildly now, tears running unchecked down her cheeks. “I’m sorry, Mama. We thought we’d be back before you woke up. I didn’t mean to hurt Uncle Cullen. I’m sorry.”

Kitty snuffled something he thought sounded like a “Sorry” into his shoulder. He sighed and freed one arm from the toddler to offer to her sister. Marie gave a hiccupping sob and ran to bury her face in his stomach. He smoothed her long fiery hair and looked helplessly at Vastra. She shrugged, panic subsiding into bemusement now she knew her children were safe, before taking pity on him and extracting the sobbing Kitty from his arm.

That freed him to speak properly to Marie. Crouching to her level, the way Sai always did, he wiped her face and tried to smile at her. “I’m not hurt. But I would like to know why you snuck up here to try and pull out my hair.”

Marie’s tears were rapidly coming under control. She was being brought up as heir to the Trevelyan Bannorn and ladies didn’t cry in public. “It’s a Kissing Day present for Auntie Sai,” she explained with a sniff. She pulled a locket out the pocket of her nightgown. “We got some of ours, and we got some of Mama’s from her hairbrush, but we needed some of yours. That way she could have a bit of all of us to take with her when she’s away.”

Cullen took the locket from her and examined it closely. An intertwined ST was engraved on the front. Sliding his nail along the side opened it to reveal three locks of hair, one strawberry and two copper tied with silk thread and held under a removable glass plate. “This is lovely,” he told the girl at last. “Where did you get it?”

“Dagna,” was the instant answer before her head swung to her mother. “I offered to pay her from my allowance but she said she couldn’t take any money if it was a present for Auntie Sai.” 

Cullen pulled the little girl into a hug before Vastra could begin to argue. “Next time just ask me for whatever you need. Now off you go and get ready for breakfast. Take your sister with you.” He gave her a kiss on the forehead and added in a whisper, “I’ll calm down your mother.”

Marie nodded and waited for her mother to put Kitty down so they could descend the stairs together. As soon as she heard the door closed behind them Vastra began to apologise. “I’m so sorry about them, Cullen. What a way to wake up.”

“I was awake,” he admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. “They just seemed so determined not to disturb me I thought it was better to pretend. I’ll make sure Dagna gets paid for her work.”

Vastra smiled at him in relief. “Thank you. My sister’s a lucky woman. Now I’d better leave you to get dressed.” She glanced out a window on her way back to the stairs. “It looks like they’ve started morning drills without you.”

“Maker’s breath!”

**Author's Note:**

> I'm so sorry.


End file.
